FRANCISSCHAEFFERSTUDIES VIDEOS

Saturday, January 24, 2015

During our time working on Francis Schaeffer Studies, we have explored the numerous biographies on Dr. Schaeffer. Sometimes people ask us, "What would you recommend?" We thought it would be a good to share with those of you who are interested in learning about Francis Schaeffer. So where to start?

If you are looking into the life of Francis Schaeffer, it is best to get the most qualified and accurate resources. Those beginning to read, may find that there are some authors that have written on Dr. Schaeffer, who actually seem to have read very little of his work. There are also those who have injected their own bias into the interpretation of Dr. Schaeffer's life. For this reason, we have chosen the following works, based on their accuracy, integrity and closeness to the Schaeffer story. It goes without saying, that perhaps the most significant works on the history of Francis Schaeffer, have been written by Edith Schaeffer. So, while these works, should not be forgotten, we will focus our attention on others who have written about them for this blog post. However, if you have not read Edith's L'Abri we highly recommend you do so. Also, her books The Tapestry and Dear Family, as well as With Love Edith, all explore their history at greater depth.

This work was chosen because of Mr. Parkhurst familiarity with the Schaeffers. The author describes what he is providing as a "biographical sketch," which may not be the depth that many may be looking for in understanding Dr. Schaeffer. Yet, what one will find very endearing about the book is the personal relationship Parkhurst describes that he had with the Schaeffers and his descriptions of their spirituality. His brief anecdotal accounts are full of value.

Mr Parkhurst became a Christian while speaking with the Schaeffers, and would serve as their pastor during the last years of Dr. Schaeffer's life. In the introduction, he mentions in passing, that he celebrated Dr. Schaeffer's last communion with him at his hospital bedside a few months before he died.

In this work, we find important essays on Schaeffer's life and work. So although not a chronological biography, there is an ample amount of biographical information that helps form a rounded perspective on Schaeffer, from those who knew him.

At the number three spot there is this wonderful newer book that was a product of a conference on Dr. Schaeffer held in 2008 at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, which is the home of the Francis Schaeffer Collection. Dr. Bruce A. Little is the custodian of the collection owned by The Francis Schaeffer Foundation. This book was chosen because it contains five lectures by L'Abri members and Family (Udo Middelmann, Jerram Barrs, Ranald Macaulay and Dick Keyes), who give a wonderfully insightful glimpse into Schaeffer's heart and thinking.

The newest work on Schaeffer is from Bill Edgar, who explores with an objective eye, the compassionate nature of Schaeffer and his spirituality. It is well worth the read as it will truly edify you.

Some of you may be familiar with Bill's work that was published in the Westminister Theological Journal, entitled, Two Christian Warriors: Cornelius Van Til and Francis A. Schaeffer Compared. As a student of both men, he provided some wonderful insights into their similarities and differences.

Perhaps still the most significant work on Dr. Schaeffer to date is by Colin Duriez, as it provides a very objective viewpoint and addresses many significant questions about the Schaeffer's life. Colin's ability to weave the many threads of Edith's work, and numerous other source materials, into a rounded historical context, with concise explanations of complex subject matters, makes it extremely valuable. Yet, it is a very down-to-earth account, that is easy to read and hard to put down. When I have picked it up for references, I sometimes found myself stuck in it for a while. This is probably because Colin's primary work is as a fantasy writer, with books on the likes of Tolkien and Lewis. Moreover, when it comes to the biographical account, Colin himself interviewed Dr. Schaeffer back in 1980, and is known by both L'Abri and the Schaeffer family.

It is significant that Dr. Schaeffer's former editor James Sire had this to say this:

Francis Schaeffer was an amazing man-intellectually brilliant and set
on truth, emotionally intense, devoted to God and compassionate; like
Jeremiah, perplexed by the world, not because he didn't understand it
but because he did. As one of his editors, I came to know him well, but
only after he emerged as a writer. For me Colin Duriez fills in the
fascinating details of his early years. Yes, this was the man I knew-one
who was surprised by God as his influence grew from his pastoring small
churches to teaching thousands in auditoriums around the world, from
conversations one on one or with a handful of students to intellectual
sparring with elite secular scholars and pundits. Duriez knows his
subject; Schaeffer, the Jeremiah of the twentieth century, walks and
talks again in these pages.

I hope you have enjoyed this walk through the top five Schaeffer biographies that we recommend. You are sure to be blessed by reading them and will find them worth your valuable time. You may not feel called to make understanding Dr. Schaeffer a personal quest as much as we have, but you may find that by exploring some of these works, you will understand why!

Sunday, January 4, 2015

As we stop and reflect on the many developments over the years, we are thankful for all that God has done, and we are renewed in our vision for the future. This year will be a big year in many ways, as not only is it the start of our 5th year of work. Look for our new Yearbook Series, that looks back on the history of francisschaefferstudies.org.

This year will also be a big year as it marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Schaeffer's 1965 Wheaton Lectures, the lectures that started it all! If you aren't already aware, these lectures where the source materials for The God Who Is There, Dr. Schaeffer's first book. We know of several events that are being planned and we will keep you posted as they develop.

In addition to this, we will continue to work on our various projects as mentioned in the Fall, but also add a new Social Media structure to promote more engagement around Schaeffer's works (watch for information on this in the next few days and weeks).

Finally, setup on our FSS Studio is nearing completion which will allow us to move forward on more video work. With this, we are planning to launch a new Web Video Series called "Schaeffer FAQ" which will answer many of the Schaeffer Questions that we get asked quite often, with research information and sometimes even actual video from Dr. Schaeffer himself. You will want to be sure to catch these!

We know the fall work has been rather slow and we have not moved forward as quickly as we would have liked to have, but we are staying on course. We would appreciate your prayers as we continue this valuable work. Thank you for following along and for your prayers. Have a happy new year!

Friday, August 29, 2014

Fall is when the work of FrancisSchaefferStudies begins to pick up and we are still working through a huge back log of video, so I thought it would be good to give you an update of various projects and events that we will be working on to bring you up to date. Here is a list:

Soundword/L'Abri Conference Videos - We still have many more to release, but we are working through them!

FSS Fall Class - In just a few short weeks we will be starting a study on Art and the Bible, so watch for updates on this!

Schaeffer Scholars (.com/.org) - We are launching a new site that will highlight the story of Schaeffer scholars, starting with the most prominent from L'Abri. We will launch this in stages throughout the end of 2014 and through 2015, and beyond.

Think It Through Conference, Oct. 17th - Dan will be speaking at the Think It Through Apologetics Conference in Manhattan, KS on "Why Every Apologist Needs to Read Francis Schaeffer." We are hoping to record this lecture.

St. Louis L'Abri Conference, Oct 18th - We hope to make it to St. Louis the next day, to cover the "To Walk Humbly with your God – True Spirituality in an Age of Counterfeits" conference.

Previous Class Video - We have a ton of class video footage that we will soon begin to release, from previous classes.

Scholar Sites - FSS is assisting some of our favorite Schaeffer scholars with some personal/ministry web sites! We are very excited about releasing these!

The FSS Studio - We have started work on an internal studio for video and production. This will allow us the means to create video more readily and produce much more valuable content. Watch for more information on this soon!

FrancisSchaefferStudies.org Phase 3 Redesign - FrancisSchaefferStudies.org will also be undergoing an upgrade to allow for new features. Watch for more on this as well!

Thanks for following along with us on social media and your support with prayers. As you might know, we do all of these projects and work as a free service to the Francis Schaeffer community. We fund ourselves in these endeavors by doing additional technical work to support the needs of the projects. Your continued prayer is much appreciated! Again, watch for updates as we work through our fall schedule.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Dr. Schaeffer, in this vintage lecture from 1983 (project info), deals with the matter of terminology and connotations. How often have we seen the Biblical Christian characterized and marginalized in our culture? Yet, how often have we seen the very believers who supposedly hold such positions, abuse the terminology as well? In the eyes of our culture, the Fundamentalist is often defined by both real and perceived legalism. Likewise, the later term Evangelical, is often characterized by a salesman salvation, lack of intellectual standing, moral hypocrisy, and what may be construed as purely negative political views.

Names like these, have not only become buzz words for slander, but their stereotypes have also remained a feature in the church and a model for many, even under criticism. Schaeffer warns us not to live up to the stereotypes as the world defines them, but to be the type of Christians that stand for change that the world truly needs. A change that demonstrates Truth. Truth that demands loving confrontation, but honest truth nonetheless, with a spirituality not based on a false pietism.

We have released this video in it's full form with the rather lengthy Q&A intact, as Dr. Schaeffer's answer to the questions are perhaps even more valuable than the lecture itself, which many already know of. It is our plan to release these in smaller segment forms in the future, so watch for these! May you be stirred by this powerful lecture!

Monday, January 27, 2014

One of the most wonderful highlights of rediscovering these old Soundword L'Abri conference videos is the significant messages that capture the core thought of L'Abri in such concise ways. They show, yet again, how revolutionary these concepts actually are, even now. In this, our third release, Dick Keyes chooses five significant points to cover that display the hallmark notions of L'Abri. While these may be common to those familiar with L'Abri, many may yet be new to these concepts. Here they are, but I ask you to please take time to watch the 15 minute video to get more context from the excellent observations for Mr. Keyes:

Christianity as Truth

The Reality of the Super-Natural / The Necessity of Prayer

The Humanness of Spirituality / Engaging the Mind in Spirituality

Living in the Shadow of the Fall

The Lordship of Christ in the Whole of Life

The reason why I request you watch the video, even if you are familiar with these concepts, is that one will quickly note in hearing of these five points of emphasis is that we may likely be nudged to ask ourselves, "How have we done in conveying these notions?" Ask yourself these questions:

Have we done enough to dispel the myths of the efficacy of the cold, dead, casual, lukewarm, Christianity that views Christianity as some sort of disconnected belief system not connected with us personally in reality?

Have we emphasized enough a spirituality that is connected with reality, that engages both the heart and mind and is capable of igniting our passions for worship, service and life?

Have we conveyed the real realities of what it means to live in a fallen world instead of the weak plastic platitudes of the false-pietism of abusive legalism or it's counterpart of all-inclusivism?

Have we plumbed the depths of the truest definitions and understandings of Christianity? Have we truly considered what the Lordship of Christ in the whole of life actually means?

To our shame, as Christians, perhaps these notions have remained in many respects simply L'Abri points of emphasis, even though they are truly Christian concepts. As Dick Keyes identifies in the video,

...these [ideas] are not
something we have a corner on, they are the property of the whole
Christian Church, but we do find that they are peculiarly under-emphasized
today.

This begs the question, "Why?" Why, some 30 years after the filming of this lecture, are these still notions of L'Abri ideas and not the part of the emphasis of the church as a whole? Even with international exposure and popularity, Dr. Schaeffer still remained frustrated that these paraphrases of the classic Christian faith that he had been preaching much of his life, were largely not being grasped and employed. Much analysis can be done to historically isolate the misguided failures and entanglements of modern Evangelicalism. Yet, we must consider that righting a large ship might just start with thousands of small adjustments and not one swift unanimous turn. The turn should involve highlighting and teaching the most valuable truths of the Christian faith, which is, itself the answer to the dilemma the world finds itself in. L'Abri has never taken a posture of arrogance, or postured itself against other groups, but has consistently strived to proclaim the truth in a fallen world, helping as many as will listed. To their credit, this has also served to preserve the message, a message balanced in truth and love. As we press on, we also must continue to proclaim truth, being true to our risen Lord, in spite of the error we see both in and outside the church.

As you watch this video, think about these things, ponder how you can bring about reformation and revival.

Edith mentions in the first portions of the video that the book is based on a film series by the same title. This films are now rare and hard to find, but was reportedly a five part series divided into the following sections: Part 1. & 2.) Continuity in Family. 3. & 4.) What is Real Spirituality? 5.) What is Prayer. The book is organized differently but expands on that content.

The book release and this lecture take place in the early part of 1983 in which Edith Schaeffer was 68 years old. The last chapter of the book, that Edith reads from and discusses in this lecture, is entitled "Sensible Balance in Building and Battle" and speaks in regard to the example of Nehemiah.

The story of Nehemiah is of course the return of Israel to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the walls wherein the Israelites found themselves performing the dual task of rebuilding for the future and fighting off those trying to thwart their efforts. I can think of very few illustrations that so parallel and typifies the life of the Christian in a post-Christian world. For while we seek to rebuild and reform culture, we often find ourselves battling on every side, with forces who wish to tear down. While the illustration is not literal, in the sense that we are not doing physical battle, we are however to strive to apply Christian principles, and resist the ungodly spirit of the age. At times we feel torn between building and battling, but both must be our task. We must have a true basis of spirituality and foundation in Christ or else we might find ourselves in despair, seeing only losses and not seeing the spiritual victories that are won amidst even the darkest of circumstances, and being true to the truth of scriptures and our savior's message of hope.

Edith here speaks with much wisdom, to relevant matters to Christians in our time. How do we live the Lordship of Christ in the whole of life, when our culture is categorized by many, including Francis Schaeffer, as post-Christian?

There was another age in which war was constantly on the church's doorstep, while the church was trying to reform, and that was the Protestant Reformation. For this reason, I think one possible summary for the book, might be "Common Sense Cultural Reformation."We hope you will enjoy the video and take this very relevant message to heart!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

It's hard to believe that francisschaefferstudies.org is three years old, and that so much has happened in such a short amount of time. Within just three years we were blessed to be able to put on our first mini-conference called The Francis Schaeffer Centennial honoring Schaeffer's 100th birthday, recorded several live events, taught four Schaeffer semester classes, created our first documentary (for the Francis Schaeffer Collection at SEBTS), interviewed eight scholars for the Francis Schaeffer Legacy Project and created over 50 videos. Thousands have visited the web site in both it's early and revised form and we have had over 30,000 views on the blog. Social media, particularly Facebook has really taken off, where the fan page has 1700+ followers and the group has over 500 members. Some of our proudest achievements have been ones that are more dear to our heart; historical preservation. We have been blessed to find and recover numerous historical documents and items in our acquisitions project that have been digitized and shared with other Schaeffer organizations. We can only stand amazed at all that has happened and are so thankful for all that God has provided and the many friends we have met along the way. We are thankful for you all!

In three years our goals have been to accomplish three things:

To Be a Resource: To be a fan site and resources for the promotion and study of the works of Francis and Edith Schaeffer.

For the Next Generation: To assist in passing the works of Francis &
Edith Schaeffer to the next generation and make their thought and
teaching more accessible for general inquiry.

To Provide a Service: To be a service to the Francis Schaeffer and L'Abri community.

Our primary foundations have really been three core principles:

Honoring Leadership Biblically: To be mindful of the Biblical principle of leadership and the instruction to "Remember
your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the
outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. (Hebrews 13:7
ESV)

Preserving Legacy:To be careful to be mindful of the legacy of Francis and Edith Schaeffer and preserve their history and message as closely as possible.

Total Lordship: To effectively communicate the Lordship of Christ in the whole of life, which was the foundational principle of the Schaeffer's message.

Our goals for the coming year are to build on our three goals and stick to our primary motivations. Our list of projects for the future is as full as the list of accomplishments God has allowed. We continue to praise God for His provision, as His hand as been evident in every step of this work. We hope that you will join us in prayer and follow along as we continue to provide this free service.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

At this time of year my family and I spend a lot of time watching Christmas movies together, and one of our favorite Christmas themes is the story by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. After watching numerous adaptations in various levels of accuracy to the original story, one begins to be struck by the more specific intentions of the tale that still come through. At first blush, each year we get the drift that Scrooge just doesn't like Christmas, but the deeper elements of the story speak of greed, poverty, the roles of the church and state, godlessness, Godliness and statism. Dickens has crafted a profound Christmas story on social justice. For while we might disagree with some of the theological symbolism used
in Dickens' story, we must realize that the portrayal of ghost was meant
to cut through to matters of deep self reflection rather than form a systematic teaching on the paranormal.

So after watching different versions several times over and reading from the story to refresh my memory, in my mind this prompted some correlation with Schaeffer's teachings in certain areas. Although, this might seem strange, I think it will be worthwhile for your consideration and very relevant for today.

Scrooge, as we may remember, is confronted near the beginning of the story with the request to give a donation for those in need by a Christian who is trying to raise funds to help the poor.

'At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge,' said the gentleman,
taking up a pen, 'it is more than usually desirable that we should make
some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly
at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries;
hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.' ~ Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Scrooge questions the very necessity, since in his thinking, there are programs to answer these needs. Yet, it is at this point we hear from the Christian that he feels the normal social programs are not only inadequate, but further that they do not furnish the Christian standard. History in fact suggest that the standards were horrific.

'Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of
mind or body to the multitude,' returned the gentleman, 'a few of us
are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink,
and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all
others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I
put you down for?' ~ Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Yet, we must not forget that from a certain paradigm, Scrooge's justification for not giving seems like a quite logical one, for
he asserts that since he pays his taxes, he funds the prisons, Union
Workhouses, and such, and he has paid enough.

'I wish to be left alone,' said Scrooge. 'Since you ask me what I
wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at
Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to
support the establishments I have mentioned-they cost enough; and those
who are badly off must go there.' ~ Dickens, A Christmas Carol

However, when told that "Many can't go there; and many would rather die." Scrooge makes the most memorable and appallingly cold statement which shows the darkness of his heart:

they had better do it [die], and decrease the surplus population ~ Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Scrooge later attempts to further excuse himself from not knowing of people's desire not to go into the state system by claiming such matters are not his business, after all, he has enough to attend to with his own business. This may be a truthful remark for the character, due to how we know he has shut himself off from society. Yet, ignorance of the matter only serves to highlight his neglect.

What Dickens so masterfully crafted in his time is a tale that both has an immediate relationship to the results of greed, but also the matters of social injustice and the Christian answer. While the injustice described of a growing state with often inhumane "solutions" and questionable ethics is a far cry from our circumstances, we should all nevertheless see some resemblance to practices that are alive and well today, as the tendency of the state to establish cold and impersonal solutions, which is still happening in our time.

Even with a Christian base, in a fallen world, the solutions, although intended for good, can always be abused. The Dickens story for example, has Scrooge mentioning prisons at first as one of the solutions he supports. This might seem out of place unless one understands that in that day and age a person would be more likely to be imprisoned for being a vagabond than they are now. As a society, it was unacceptable for one not to work, as there was a strong adherence to at least the concepts conveyed by 2 Thess 3:10 ( If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.), although over-zealously so. It was not until the Elizabethan Poor Law that England saw progress toward correcting poverty rather than mostly punishing it indiscriminately. In Dickens' time, idleness (laziness) was still very punishable. So it should be noted that we are very far from these sort of laws in our times, so much so, that Dickens would likely view our culture as greatly immoral in this area.

So if Christian solutions in a fallen world can be abused, or on converse even ignored, we easily can see how, in a fallen world with an improper base, the results will be exponentially worse and be more consistency inhuman. This is something Schaeffer understood well:

We must realize that this view will with inevitable certainty always
bring forth results which are not only relativistic, and not only wrong,
but which will be inhuman,
not only for other people, but for our children and grandchildren, and
our spiritual children. It will always bring forth what is inhuman, for
with its false view of total
reality it not only does not have a basis for the uniqueness and
dignity of the individual person, but it is totally ignorant as to what,
and who, Man is. ~ Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto

In fact, when Schaeffer was asked once by R.C. Sproul, what his most processing concern was for America, his answer was immediately: "Statism." While we may think to point fingers at our culture at this point, it is quite another to provide workable solutions, and the church has been inept to do so sufficiently.

Yet, in contrast, it often surprises me that Christians do not often stop and reflect on the substantial example the church has had and the answers we have over the two children under the Ghost of Christmas Present's robe, known as Ignorance and Want.

Ignorance: Schaeffer said that...

Christianity is the greatest intellectual system the mind of man has ever touched. ~ Francis Schaeffer

Want: Scrooge, in Dickens' story, was content with treating men in a mechanical way and would leave them to the care of some social program rather than taking the time for to give personally. In contrast, Schaeffer affirmed the Biblical dignity of man that requires us to
address the needs of others as we treat them as they are, created in the
image of God. Here again a relevant quote:

Every time we act in a machine-like way toward another man we deny the central teaching of the Word of God-that there is a personal God who has created man in His own image. ~ Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality

Christmas Hope
In the end, A Christmas Carol hopes to inspire a right devotion and celebration of Christmas. Thinking of Christmas, what other tradition in history has celebrated a global impacting celebration for over a thousand plus years? What other tradition throws the world into celebration of giving each year and promotes such goodwill? The legacy of Christmas as a holiday itself has promoted more goodwill in the world than any other tradition in history?

One scene that is often skipped in most of the versions of A Christmas Carol, is the one where Scrooge goes to church and the realization of his newfound "walk," which implies the right devotion and Christmas hope.

He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people
hurrying to and fro, and patted children on the head, and questioned
beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of houses, and up to the
windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had
never dreamed that any walk -- that anything -- could give him so much
happiness. ~ Dickens, A Christmas Carol

It is remarkable the joy that comes, and the delight Scrooge found:

The Creator, as Abba, Father, will even now dry my tears and there will be joy. this is the meaning of true spirituality... ~ Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality

And it was unmoved by ridicule:

Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; ~ Dickens, A Christmas Carol

My validity and my status are found in being before the God who is there. My basic validity and my basic status do not depend upon what men think of me. ~ Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality

So now finally, upon reflection of all of this, I will leave you with the significant closing remarks of Dickens, which are all the more significant when we consider the secondary themes.

it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well,
if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of
us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every
One! ~ Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Our first release is entitled The Question of Apologetics by Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer. In this lecture Dr. Schaeffer reads from and discusses Appendix A of the first volume of hisComplete Works.

Dr. Schaeffer opens with an explanation about the Complete Works and a fascinating clarification about his apologetics. He states that, "When I wroteThe God Who Is There, I had no intention of writing a book on apologetics. It took me by surprise, the furor it made in some sections [of the church]." This tells us much about Dr. Schaeffer's core desire for writing his first works. It seems quite clear that although these first works have apologetic value, his interest was one of speaking the historic Christian position into the twentieth century (the subtitle of his first work and the 1965 Wheaton lectures), as an evangelical message. In fact, we know from the Francis Schaeffer Collection manuscripts at SEBTS that "Speaking the historic Christian position into the twentieth century" was the title of The God Who Is There before the name was changed during the editing process. So Schaeffer's first work was not written out of an academic desire to produce his first work as an apologete, but simply to challenge culture with the historic Christian position. Nevertheless, we know from from his history, that his work inspired and enabled many an apologist. This is all part of the enigma that is Schaeffer and what fascinates so many of us.

At the end of the lecture, there is a short Q&A time where he fields a question in regard to his old teacher Cornelius Van Til. It is a fascinating answer, yet in watching you will note Schaeffer's fatigue is showing a bit at this point, as in all of these videos he is dealing with the difficulties of cancer in these late years of his life. Dr. Schaeffer nevertheless answers the question, although perhaps not at the length or depth many of us would have desired. You'll want to make sure you catch this part!

This video is largely uncut. There was a pre-lecture segment that we cut, which we will utilize in a later video. Our reason for this cut was to get the viewer directly into the lecture content which is one hour and 10 minutes long with the Q&A section that followed included. The camera work is rather rough at times and we did not take time to do adjustments to compensate for them as we were content to leave the video in it's more vintage original form. Our methodology was to capture at the highest possible resolution from the original tapes and then make slight adjustments to the lighting to best bring out the original composition. The graphic footer overlays and production additions are part of our agreement for distribution.

We would again, like to thank Soundword Associates and L'Abri Fellowship for entrusting us with this task. We hope you enjoy the video and seeing Dr. Schaeffer once again!

Friday, October 11, 2013

Work continues on the Soundword L'Abri Conference videos and we are over half way through the capture process! We are already making some major discoveries that are sure to stir up interest. Some of these are just a greater realization of what we are working with. However, others are more significant in relation to understanding Schaeffer's thought.

Firstly, as we anticipated, we are finding that there is slightly more content that was originally described on the labels. In the case of one of the Introductions to L'Abri tapes we found, for example, we also had material from L'Abri workers such as Dick Keyes, Richard Winter, Hank Hervormddussen of Dutch L'Abri and Udo Middelmann. So we were really overjoyed to see these "young men" speaking on the work of L'Abri.

Dick Keyes

Hank Hervormddussen

Dr. Richard Winter

Udo Middlemann

Yet, the other category of findings are in relation to common questions asked in regard to Schaeffer even today. These come out in the Q & A segments, where Schaeffer fields these questions. Here are just a couple:

Is Schaeffer a Reconstructionist? You'll be able to hear him answer this question in his own words!

How is Schaeffer's apologetic different than Cornelius Van Til? Schaeffer fields this question as well.

What should we do to evangelize our culture and stand for truth? What role does spirituality have in this? (Note: That Schaeffer's lecture was in relation to politics.) Schaeffer's answer is pretty much a lecture within itself... and we can tell you that you will not want to miss this one!

Next Steps?

Our plans are to begin to release a few of the more significant segments such as the ones mentioned above and then release items in both larger portions and also the full un-cut videos that have been selected by our Facebook Group.

However, some of the Q & A content is so substantial, that we have decided to launch a new project called Schaeffer FAQ, in which we answer common questions we are regularly asked about Schaeffer with video from Schaeffer himself.